Using Instagram Stories in social media marketing can be a game-changer for businesses looking to engage their audience dynamically and interactively. These short-lived, ephemeral posts allow for creativity and spontaneity, enabling brands to connect authentically with their followers.
Here’s why and how you can leverage IG Stories effectively:
1. Authenticity and Immediacy: Stories offer a sense of real-time connection. Brands can showcase behind-the-scenes content, giving followers an exclusive peek into their daily operations or events. This transparency builds trust and a deeper connection with the audience.
2. Interactive Features: Instagram Stories have various interactive features like polls, questions, quizzes, and sliders. These tools allow brands to gather feedback, conduct market research, or engage followers fun and interactively, boosting engagement metrics.
3. Creativity and Branding: Brands can leverage the creative features within Stories—filters, stickers, text, and drawings—to showcase their personality and brand identity. Consistent use of brand colours, fonts, and imagery helps reinforce brand recognition.
4. Storytelling: Stories provide a sequential format, allowing brands to tell a narrative. Whether it’s a product launch, a user-generated content showcase, or a step-by-step tutorial, the sequential nature of Stories aids in storytelling.
5. Swipe-up Links: Verified or business accounts with over 10k followers have the advantage of adding swipe-up links, driving traffic directly to their website, blog posts, or specific landing pages. This feature can be pivotal in converting followers into customers or navigating traffic.
6. Highlights: Stories can be saved as Highlights on your profile, giving them a longer lifespan. Brands can organize these Highlights into categories, making it easier for followers to explore specific content even after the 24-hour window.
7. Analytics and Insights: Instagram provides analytics for Stories, allowing brands to track metrics like reach, impressions, taps forward/back, and interactions. These insights help understand what content resonates most with the audience, aiding in future content strategies.
Tips for Effective IG Stories:
- Consistency: Regularly post Stories to keep your audience engaged and interested.
- Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Encourage engagement by asking questions or prompting users to take specific actions.
- Mix of Content: Balance promotional content with entertaining, educational, or behind-the-scenes content to maintain interest.
- Use of Hashtags and Location Tags: Increase discoverability by using relevant hashtags and location tags in your Stories.
- Collaborations and Takeovers: Collaborate with influencers or partners to reach a broader audience.
How Social Media Marketing Builds Your Brand
Before we get into the different ways you can use Instagram stories to interact with users, you need to know what it takes to make a successful social media campaign on Instagram. Your end goal is to have every follower who interacts with your campaign clearly understand your brand message and whether or not they can relate to it.
A few easy ways to make your Instagram stories effective are:
- Let your followers know to check out your stories. Tease it on other platforms and maybe even do an exclusive giveaway on Instagram;
- A picture paints a thousand words, so create high-quality images. You have so many ways to customize and personalize your pictures;
- If you use text, ensure it’s clear and visible long enough for your followers to read. Nothing is more annoying than having to watch a story repeatedly to get the right info and,
- Use interactive features to get everyone engaged in your stories. You’ll get real, honest feedback from them while remaining top-of-mind.
Insta-Story Uses for Social Media Marketing
Instagram stories have only been around for a little over two years. Still, within that short period, more than 400 million Instagram users have interacted with this feature daily. So, how can you utilize this to reach potential customers?
Tutorials and Walk-throughs
This will entertain followers while educating them on things that are relevant to your business and brand. You can make sequential videos so they can follow along in a step-by-step format. Including links to the products you use in your tutorials will also help increase your website traffic.
User Generated Content
One of the easiest ways to connect with people is to share content from current customers. Create a hashtag so people can include that in a post about their latest haul. It also makes your brand seem more attainable as they witness others enjoying your product/service.
Inside Scoop
People love seeing behind-the-scenes shots from brands. It makes the brand feel more real since the stories don’t have to be perfectly edited and photoshopped. It’s a way to give your customers a deeper look at what happens.
The Payoff
It works. One in five stories will receive a DM after viewing their Instagram story (so make sure to check them!). If you keep your business relevant and successfully use this as an advertising tool, you will increase your web traffic and revenue.
Instagram stories are a way to interact with many potential customers you wouldn’t reach otherwise. It’s an easy way to create original content that can be personalized to target your core audience. For this feature to work, you must successfully integrate this Instagram feature into your social media marketing campaign. If you need help putting that plan together, get in touch. We’ll help you get the most out of your posts and grow your visibility, reach, and business.
